Despite the collecting business being mostly owned by Mom & Pops or small,
independent dealers, I don't see why in the world it would come as a shock that
a few of the larger megasharks would see the market as anything other than a
feeding trough.
It stands to reason a large corporation would look at the market and try to
find every avenue possible to make a buck.
The participation of these corporate entities (be it Sotheby's or Heritage) in
manipulating auctions, or even maintaining a friendly face in users groups like
this -- is just good business practice.
Why in the world wold an MBA look at the $$$ generated from poster auctions any
different than a GM dealership?
Why in the world would this same MBA not see the profit potential in feeder
strings from poster auctions?
The money you pay or receive for movie memorabilia is no different than the
money made by a used car dealer... Just a bit more glamorous.
This is all to say that Heritage owning Gavelsnipe is the same as the small
ebay dealer using auctiva. It gives Heritage one more edge to keep their
profits up... which the Mom & Pops don't have. On a corporate level, you can
bet your booty that there is information sharing... after all, what else is the
purpose of owning feeder string businesses?
________________________________
From: Simon Oram <fab5fre...@btinternet.com>
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 5:26 AM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Potential Conflict of Interest? Is Gavel-Snipe owned by
Heritage?
Well put it this way, I won’t be registering with Gavelsnipe , can’t see
myself taking part in MoviePosterExchange either after hearing this news. I
wonder why they didn’t use an independent snipe program? Why align themselves
with a snipe program owned by Heritage? Transparency is the key here and lack
of
it I feel will be damaging.
Thanks David for this interesting news.
Simon
From: David Kusumoto
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 10:13 AM
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: [MOPO] Potential Conflict of Interest? Is Gavel-Snipe owned
by Heritage?
* With the impending launch of Peter Contarino's, Sean Linkenback's and Ken
Schacter's auctions (vs. fixed
price sales which are there now), I've been visiting their
MoviePosterExchange.com site. It's easy to navigate and very
user-friendly. (BTW, where in the heck did the highly-touted $850,000
"Metropolis" 3-sheet go? I can't find it! Did it sell?) At any
rate, while visiting the site's FAQs, I read that it has partnered with
GavelSnipe, the sniping program service, which will be available to bidders for
timed auctions. That's good news.
* But what's interesting - and this
has nothing to do with MoviePosterExchange.com - is GavelSnipe "appears" to be
owned by Heritage. If I'm wrong, please correct me - and a thousand
apologies if I am. I'm less concerned
about potential abuses like shilling and what not with Heritage's auctions -
than I am about transparency. GavelSnipe's murky origins are
troubling. I couldn't find much info about who owns or runs it. This
is NOT a criticism of Grey - who I consider a pal. The issue of
GavelSnipe's ownership - if indeed Heritage is its "owner" - is out of his
hands. It's bigger than him because it's available to bidders in
Heritage's other departments.
* If true, this is NOT like PayPal being owned by
eBay. It's more like GavelSnipe being owned by Sotheby's or Christie's,
e.g., a conflict of interest where potential abuses "could" occur - despite
assurances that a "sniping subsidiary" of Sotheby's or Christie's - can operate
independently - with an iron-clad ability to preserve the confidentiality of
all
scheduled "snipe" bids submitted online. Do you trust this, given what
you've read in the news about Sotheby's, Christie's, price fixing, Wall Street
buddies in bed with politicians
trading stocks with confidential info, etc.?
* By using ANY sniping program, you are imparting the
same trust you already give to auction sites when submitting "absentee bids"
for
"live" showroom sales. The difference is you can't be "run-up" while using
a sniping program, or so you think, because your bids are placed in the last
few
seconds of a timed sale. But what if the wall protecting "sniped bids" is
breached by another department in the SAME building? Here's what I know:
GavelSnipe is based in Dallas and "uses SSL encryption (so
that) your passwords are secured and not VIEWABLE by GavelSnipe
personnel." I have no reason to distrust this. But what about actual
snipe bid amounts before a sale closes? In the effort to make "sniping"
available for clients like
myself who've clamored for it - I hope Heritage hasn't errantly opened a can of
worms by OWNING GavelSnipe - instead of PARTNERING with an independently-run
third party company - such as JustSnipe or others like it.
* Before most of you scoff and dismiss what I'm
saying as "manufactured paranoia" or "no
big deal" - please know that I'm
approaching this as a person who has
personally GAINED by buying and consigning items with Heritage over the years -
hence I'm not inclined to see it stub its toes for ANY
reason. Again, I'm more concerned
about transparency than abuse when it comes to Heritage. And that's mostly
because of Grey. But visit the GavelSnipe site. It "feels" like it
has something to hide - as if it already knows that there's ZERO benefit to be
PROACTIVE with consumers - about who's "really" signing the paychecks for
GavelSnipe's employees. -d.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
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